I’ve been carving crochet hooks with hearts on them.

There’s the Ladybug Valentine Heart hook

and a few other ones

AND…. I have just finished painting and burning one of the new Heart hooks:

I have been mulling over and contemplating lots of issues-

Like….. what is home……. (we’re in the process of getting ready to move a BIG big move…). How do we create home when we leave a place that has been home, to make a new home….

Also, a door just snapped shut on a project that I’ve been very hopeful about.  Rats.

So, to re-group, I have really needed to spend time thinking about what it is I love to do.

And, to spend time DOING what I love to do.

So, I have been weaving up a storm on my small looms, and even if I say so myself,  I have been doing some REALLY terrific new designs.

And, one of the other things that really helps me get my head on straight again is to spend time working with wood.

Anyhow………. so………. I have been really thinking and doing stuff that is vital to my sense of self……

and here’s one of the things that has come out of that response to the pain of disappointment, rejection and frustration:

It’s my way of saying: I just have to stay with what I love, and find my way home in that feeling of love……….

Yep. One of the heart shape crochet hooks now has a portrait of a little house in the woods

The flash on the camera washed it out. Also, I photograph them before I varnish them, as the varnish flashes out, too, so the richness doesn’t show up.

Anyhow. This crochet hook says: Home. Love…..

and on the back:

a dragonfly. Because my best friend and I both saw a dragonfly on the uncarved hook.

So, the dragonfly stands for love and friendship, too…..

I have several friends who feel very strongly about dragonflies.

I am always awestruck when the dragonflies hatch and whirl and flicker and investigate their newly found wings.

It’s like they are saying:

‘Ah, so this….. T H I S ! is what I do now!

Yesterday, I lived in the water,

today I live in the air!’

Hmmm…. seems like a pretty good metaphor for someone who is wondering,

‘What next?’

Oh! Oh! OH!!!!!!

If you are a small loom weaver, you probably know all about this site!  But, I didn’t until just now, so I am going to tell you about it, just in case you’ve missed it…..

It’s called Weave Cast, and it’s got links to all kinds of AWESOME small loom weaving podcasts.

Syne Mitchell is doing a fantastic service to the crafting community by making weaving a more approachable fiber art!

About a week or so ago, I asked for advice about images to put on some new heart hooks that I am carving.

I’ve got a real bee in my bonnet about heart shapes on hooks, so I have been working on the two hooks from that posting. Now, there are 2 more that I have just started- I am learning how to turn crochet hooks on the lathe.

Here are the ones that I have done a combination of turning and carving on:

and here are the first two that I was wondering about before….

Now…… I need to start drawing, burning and painting the images on them.  The second one from the left is just begging for beads……

Woohoo!

I am so excited!

For the past year or so, I have been carving all the one of a kind handmade crochet hooks I make without having Jim turn them on the lathe.

It struck me that I should probably learn how to use the lathe to shape the length of the hook. I figured that it might save some time….. so I asked Jim to show me how to do it.

At first, I was very timid in my approach, but soon, I was just having a whirlietwirlie happydancing time!

OH! this is BLISS!

I am totally addicted to woodworking….. well that’s not quite right….. I LOVE sculpting wood.

I am NOT a woodworker. I don’t make a square corners.  Therefore, I am not a woodworker. I love to shape and sculpt wood, but I don’t have any interest in learning how to build furniture or things with corners.

Anyhow…. back to turning the crochet hooks.

I started with 3 of them:

And, just as I was about to declare the second one pretty darned close to being done, I noodged a little on the tool, and phwing! The hook splintered and flew madly off in all directions.

The one in the middle is the busted one, (duh), and you can see how I’ve started the sculpting process on the other two.

This is fun!

By the way, Jim will still continue to be the numero Uno woodturner on the one of a kind spool knitters that we make.   We both love the way we co-create on them.   But, he hasn’t been involved in making the crochet hooks for more than a year, so he’s  not feeling like I am taking over his turf on this.

aNd….. by the way……….. it didn’t save any time at all, but oh! it’s amazing to watch the wood spin and sawdust fly! Very gratifying indeed!

Oh oh…. I just got tagged by Cyndi

The usual way these meme thingies go is that you are supposed to tell 7 things about yourself that people might not know.

1]   How about telling about a FABULOUS book that I have been staying up waaaaaaay too late at night with?

It’s called: Belonging: Home away from home and is by Isabel Huggan.  It’s a contemplative and engaging book of essays and stories written by a Canadian author. Her husband’s work requires them to live in different countries, and she writes in a heartfelt way about how you create ‘home’.

2]  Which brings me to a big issue in our lives: We are looking at upping and offing and moving over mountains and across water onto an island in about a year’s time.

Part of me is thrilled by the idea. That would be a VERY small part of me. The rest of me, the VERY big rest of me part, is frankly terrified…..    I feel loved here. I feel like I have community on many levels: There is  an unconscious ‘grid’ of knowing that when I need this, I can go there…

Will we adapt to a new climate? Will I (having been born and raised on prairies and living for half my life here in Alberta Canada, which is not prairie, but ‘parkland’) like living on an island?   Okay…. that brings me to another fact….

3]  I like water. I drink a lot of it when I boil it and add tea leaves.

4] BUT…. I can’t swim.

5]   I don’t like bathtubs,

6]  I hate swimming pools and DON’T even THINK of inviting me into a soup pot for humans ugh no no I mean hottub!

Now, I love the ocean…….. but……… living on an island……..

a VERY beautiful island  that has the added benefit of being the home of two beloved sisters……. but still….

there is all that      W A T E R    ……..

7] Quick – someone pass me a cuppa tea…..

Did I mention I love tea?

Oh yes, these meme things mean that you are supposed to tag someone else……….. alrighty!

Heeheehee…. I’ll get out my magic wand and ‘ting’ – and

tag  my daughter, Chloe!

let’s see….

ah, yes, there’s wonderful Gayla at Super Nanny Rules

You know what? I am just going to spiel off some of my favorite blogs and tag them. That’s highly unlikely to endear me to them….. but at least they know that they have a dedicated reader (me)…..

There’s  Jennifer over at Offbeat Homes, one of my most fave blogs….

and  Mary Emma at Quilting and  Patchwork

and oh yes, there’s also Kelly at One Book, Two Book

and Heather at The Food Bowl 

and Heather again at A Creative Journal 

Sorry about tagging you twice, Heather, but  I did end up by tagging my fave blogs, so that’s the way it goes….

Hopefully, the tag meme will float away to another corner of the blogosphere for a month or eight…..   )

One of the great joys about teaching at crochet conferences is getting to meet other designers and teachers. One of the most delightful people you could ever wish to meet is Margaret Hubert.

Margaret is in full glory with her series of books of really wonderful crochet designs, ranging from freeform to plus size crochet.   Here’s her website: Marvelous Margaret 

Carol Alexander writes a monthly email newsletter for Crochet! magazine.

This month’s newsletter has an excellent tutorial explaining hairpin lace.  It shows how to crochet a hairpin lace bookmark.   Bookmarks are great…. you can never have too many!      Bookmark tutorial 

Bonnie Meltzer

is a force majeur in the fiber arts world. She is  famous for her use of crochet in exceptional ‘outside the box’ artworks. Her innovative use of reclaimed and recycled materials in her sculpture and multi-media pieces is mind boggling.

Give yourself a big treat and go noodle around on her website. You’ll be VERY inspired!

Woohoo!

My daughter has also been nominated for a fabbie award!

How kewl is that?

Please vote for her! So sayeth her proud Mamma!

Her link: fabulous daughter 

Almost everyone in North America is getting hit with some kind of wicked weather right now.

We’re in the thick of an evil cold spell.  We have just come through one of the worst blizzards we remember.  (and that’s saying a lot!)

The wind chill is -50

Yes….

-50

that’s almost incomprehensible. 

Here’s what the windows of the studio look like:

The snowdrifts have filled the yard and swept right up to the top of the studio windows.

Luckily, the blizzard pushed warm weather ahead of it on Saturday, so we spent the day cutting wood and hauling it into the studio.

This is what the inside of the windows look like:

That’s one of the windows…. The snow reaches the very top of the window.  Whew!

Last week, I ordered a new chair for my computer desk. I was astonished that the delivery guy actually braved the weather to deliver it this morning…..

He tried valiantly to get the truck up the driveway, but it wasn’t possible.

It sounded like he hit the fence, as he was trying to get up the driveway. I grabbed a coat and boots and ran out to see if he was okay – and if the fence was okay, too!  I foolishly forgot to put on mittens- not a good idea!

The driver was floundering up the drive, dragging the box – noble soul! I figured that I was dressed more warmly than he was, so I took over the box shuffle.

The news said that if you have exposed skin you will get frostbite in under 5 minutes.  They’re right.

Yep. I froze my hands in the few minutes I was struggling up the driveway with the box.

My index finger and thumb feel like someone pounded them with a hammer.   Cold hurts.

Hope the weather is better where you are!